NEU’s ‘window to the art world’

NEAR East University (NEU) opened its Cyprus Modern Art Museum this week to open a “new window to the art world”.

Located next to the Classic Car Museum on the university’s Lefkoşa campus, the museum opened with a ceremony on Thursday morning and hosts “significant works” from 14 Turkic countries.

NEU board of trustees’ chairman İrfan Günsel said the museum aimed to take culture and art in the country to a “different level”, and they would continue to make investments that will “play a role in increasing the value given to art”.

“Our Cyprus Modern Art Museum is a project that will connect our past, present and future,” said Dr Günsel in a statement, adding: “As well as ensuring the promotion of Turkish Cypriot art to artists and the public, it will also offer an opportunity to local artists to display their work.”

The Antiquities Department-approved venue will host seminars and workshops, as well as displays.

Works reflecting different periods and covering a wide range of styles are on display by artists from the TRNC, Turkey, Azerbaijan, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Uzbekistan, Turkmenistan, the Moldovan region of Gagauzia and the Russian republics of Tatarstan, Bashkortostan, Dagestan, Altai and Tuva.

The museum is open every day except Monday, from 9am to 6pm.